FORMER drivers, who used to work on the Tesco distribution contract in Doncaster, staged a demonstration yesterday at the Tesco AGM in London, protesting at their ‘unfair dismissals’.
The crux of their case is that Eddie Stobart Ltd (ESL) and Tesco had together agreed to make 184 drivers redundant well before the workers had been consulted. Their case is currently partly heard at an employment tribunal (ET).
More than 20 ex-drivers travelled from Yorkshire to take part in the protest outside the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, Westminster.
Unite national officer Adrian Jones said: ‘Basically, our members are saying that Tesco and Stobarts colluded to sack our members, who had fought hard for terms and conditions over many years, so that they could be replaced by cheaper drivers.
‘Since then the company has been employing agency drivers to do exactly the same jobs as they did, but on worse terms and conditions.
‘Today’s demo is designed to drive home to Tesco’s shareholders what the company has unfairly done to our members, so the shareholders know that the company’s reputation will suffer as a result.’
l Unite has branded Northampton General Hospital’s banning of 78 biomedical scientists from the workplace a ‘disgraceful abuse of power’ and has vowed to do what it takes to win the dispute.
The Unite members, who have been involved in an increasingly bitter year-long dispute over the trust’s plans to sack and re-engage workers on worse terms and conditions, were banned by the trust from entering the workplace on Thursday 26 June as they prepared to take legitimate industrial action.
Workers were due to begin industrial action short of strike action, including bans on overtime, out-of-hours working and on-call at 00:01 on Thursday 26 June. The union has accused the trust of putting patient safety at grave risk and wasting trust resources in its heavy-handed bid to force workers to accept new detrimental terms without any meaningful negotiation.
The 78-strong workforce, face losing up to £6,000 a year under the new deal, and had vowed to return to work yesterday.
Mick Orpin, Unite regional officer, said: ‘The trust is guilty of a disgraceful abuse of power not only for banning its workforce, but also for denying patients the expertise of dedicated and skilled professionals.
‘Locking out an entire workforce for exercising their legal right to take industrial action is utterly barbaric and is virtually unprecedented in the NHS.
‘Today is a very dark day for Northampton General Hospital and a bleak stain on the NHS. 78 pathologists – more used to helping those in need – have been barred from entering the workplace for exercising their legal right to take industrial action.
‘Our members have a right to stand up and have their issues heard without threat and abuse. They are understandably upset at the risk of losing up to £6,000 a year and of having their work-life balance thrown into disarray while the trust blows up to £1 million a year on eight agency biomedical scientists.’
The new contracts will see workers forced to double their night time shifts from seven days in 14 weeks to 14 days in 14 weeks while out-of-hours payments are slashed by 80 per cent.
A typical biomedical scientist earns between £21,000-£35,000 a year and will have a university degree, often Masters degrees, plus additional postgraduate training and many years’ experience.
